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Clubhouse confidential: Yankees staff counts on Brian McCann

The Yankees would like their pitchers to look up to Brian McCann. Not going to happen. For all the team's off-season re-tooling, the free agent catcher could find himself the most significant of the newcomers on the roster. His leadership – even if he doesn't reprise his guard-the-integrity-of-the-game sheriff act of last season – is a key reason the Yankees signed him.

Note: USA TODAY Sports' Paul White, via car, causeway, plane and rail, will eventually reach every major league camp this spring. Follow his exploits on Twitter - @PBJWhite - as he makes his way through the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues before imparting all you didn't know about every team right here.

Today: The New York Yankees

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The Yankees would like their pitchers to look up to Brian McCann. Not going to happen.

For all the team's off-season re-tooling, the free agent catcher could find himself the most significant of the newcomers on the roster. His leadership – even if he doesn't reprise his guard-the-integrity-of-the-game sheriff act of last season – is a key reason the Yankees signed him.

And even with the addition of Masahiro Tanaka, the pitching staff is likely to need plenty of guidance.

McCann is willing and able to provide it, but he's the guy who finds himself looking up.

Consider a few of McCann's comments this spring:

"That big frame, you're looking out on him as a hitter and it looks like he's right in front of you. You don't see guys that are that big and that tall on the mound very often."

"He's able to get tilt on his fastball. He uses all his 6-7 frame to get that downhill plane. When he throws the ball downhill, he's very hard to square up. Not many 6-7 guys who get the ball to do what he does."

In order, those comments are about Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova, who could find themselves starting on back-to-back days this season at the back end of the Yankees rotation.

For the record, they're both 6-7 – McCann a mere 6-3. Oh, and incumbent No. 1 starter CC Sabathia also is 6-7.

And that doesn't even include 6-8 Dellin Betances, a spring sensation three years ago but a guy who's been battling to overcome a reputation – with statistical backing – as a fireballer without the requisite command.

He hasn't allowed a run in four outings this spring and only four of the 24 batters he's faced have reached base – two hits and two walks.

Thanks to shoulder surgery, Pineda hasn't pitched in the majors since 2011, before the stunning swap of prospects with Seattle for Jesus Montero.

His first two spring innings were impressive, with MVP Miguel Cabrera among the four strikeouts in the seven batters Pineda faced. The fastball wasn't the eye-popping 97 mph from his rookie year but certainly well over 90. And McCann called Pineda's slider unhittable.

Pineda's challenges are mostly health related but Nova is different.

He was American League Pitcher of the Month last August but still is battling for a spot in the rotation. He'd be No. 4 if he can be counted on as more than, as Nova describes it, "On the line to go back down. I want to be a major league pitcher. I want to be consistent."

Both he and manager Joe Girardi know what's needed.

"You want him attacking the zone so we get him deep into games," Girardi says. "I think he understands how it works around here. He's working. He's earning it."

Nova threw 31 strikes out of 36 pitches in one start this spring.

"To be a consistent starter is a lot of work physically and mentally," Girardi says. Nova is certain how that equation breaks down for him.

"Mental," he says of where his focus needs to be. "Physically, I'm fine. I feel strong. Sometimes the game is hard. Maybe people outside think it's easy but sometimes it's not easy. Especially when you see your teammates struggling, you see other pitchers struggling, you want to step up. Sometimes you put pressure on your shoulders and you don't have to."

Betances and Pineda have lockers side by side in the spring clubhouse and Nova is close by. They have a legitimate chance to do the same in New York this summer.

McCann's locker is on the other side of the room. Maybe they're starting to look simply like major league pitchers from way over there.

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Mark Teixeira has seen his OPS drop every year since 2007.(Photo: Brad Barr, USA TODAY Sports)

Teixeira testing out wrist

It's more than what shows up in box scores that determines how a spring is going.

For instance, the Yankees would dearly love to see first baseman Mark Teixeira swing and miss, especially when the switch-hitter is batting left-handed. A couple of checked swings wouldn't hurt either.

Derek Jeter remains the marquee rehabber this spring but his return from a near-lost season is going smoothly.

Teixeira, whose 2013 was nearly as much a non-starter as Jeter's, seems fine. He says he feels fine. But he isn't home free in his return from a torn tendon sheath in his right wrist that cost him all but 15 games last year.

"I feel pretty good," says Teixeira, whose OPS has dropped every year since 2007, though he won the AL home run and RBI titles in 2009. "The wrist is getting stronger. That's the biggest thing. Bat speed's pretty good. We'll keep building up and hopefully on April 1, it's feeling good and swings are going really good and I'm ready to roll."

He's playing spring games – a double is his only hit in eight at-bats. He won't make the trip to Panama this weekend for two games because he wants to stick close the Yankees' training room facilities in Tampa.

What he really needs is a futile hack at somebody's mid-90s heater.

"I really need to test out the wrist," he says. "I just want to see if I can let it go, swing and miss. I fouled a few pitches off and it feels fine, so that's good. It's almost a swing and miss."

And left-handed is more crucial.

"It's the bottom hand," he says.

And therein lies some of the ongoing concerns about a player crucial to the Yankees offense. Power hitters often need a full season to regain the full force of their swing after wrist or hand injuries. There's no telling what awaits Teixeira.

And he's already a guy who admittedly has struggled the past few seasons to deal with the increasing defensive shifts teams employ against him.

"I obviously need more work," Teixeira says of his spring. "But, so far, so good."

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Girardi not worried about Sabathia's velocity

It's New York and they're the Yankees, so no detail around this team is too miniscule to be dissected.

This spring, it has become almost pitch by pitch.

Not balls and strikes but more which pitch, how fast and what does it do?

Consider:

--The Sabathia story is supposed to be about velocity. No more mid-90s stuff for the big guy who won 14 games last year but had the highest ERA of his 13-year career, gave up the most earned runs in the American League and hardly was a dominant staff ace.

He slimmed down over the winter but that's had no effect so far on a fastball that still hasn't reached 90 mph in a game. But he broke out a cutter in his most recent start Tuesday and was pleased that it gives batters another look to deal with.

And that plays into Girardi's take on the situation – which might be real optimism or merely finding the most optimistic evaluation.

"I see (the radar readings)," Girardi said after Tuesday's game. "But I'm going to read swings. I'm going to look at (whether he's pitching) downhill. Today he struggled with a little bit of that, but it's the first time I've seen it all spring."

--Betances was a spring sensation three years ago with an electric fastball, though where it was going often became a mystery – and a detriment.

Finally, this spring, he's a legitimate candidate for a spot in a bullpen that's thinner than just losing Mariano Rivera to retirement.

But a recent game against Tampa Bay did wonders for Betances and the team's confidence he can succeed in the majors.

He needed a couple of outs to escape a tight spot. And he struck out Matt Joyce on three pitches, the same number he used to eventually get Wil Myers to ground out. All six were breaking balls.

Betances is 25 with seven major league innings. Once Sabathia throws his first pitch of 2014, he'll have twice that many seasons.

But how both evolve as pitchers this year will be crucial to the Yankees' chances.

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GALLERY: SCENES FROM THE GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter picks up his equipment during his last spring training experience, one that was rained out in Tampa, Fla. (Photo: David Manning, USA TODAY Sports)

March 25: Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward, right, high fives third base coach Doug Dascenzo as he runs around the bases after he hit a solo home run during the sixth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. (Photo: Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports)

March 25: Toronto Blue Jays infielder Maicer Izturis waits for the ball in the first inning of the spring training exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at McKechnie Field. (Photo: Jonathan Dyer, USA TODAY Sports)

March 25: Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen holds up on a pitch in the fourth inning of the spring training exhibition game against the Toronto Blue Jays at McKechnie Field. (Photo: Jonathan Dyer, USA TODAY Sports)

March 21: Toronto Blue Jays third basemen Brett Lawrie celebrates with his teammates after hitting a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays at Charlotte Sports Park. (Photo: Jonathan Dyer, USA TODAY Sports)

March 6: Miami Marlins center fielder Joe Benson chases a ball as it is hit off a real estate advertisement on an outfield wall for an RBI-double by Houston Astros' J.D. Martinez. (Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

March 3: Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez is congratulated by teammates after he scored during the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at McKechnie Field. (Photo: Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports)

March 3: New York Jets former quarterback Joe Namath, left, sits with New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi during batting practice at George M. Steinbrenner Field. (Photo: David Manning, USA TODAY Sports)

Feb. 18: Boston Red Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes arrives at camp after having his beard shaved off on national television last week. He says: "I mean, no one died. We're going to be all right." (Photo: Steven Senne, AP)